'^3e Speech ofi ^z,/??, Co^^y ^fi ^^^^^ 









J. L. M. CURM, OF ALABAMA, 



ELECTION OF SPEAKER, 



PROGRESS OF ANTI-SLAVBRTISM. 



DELIVEPvED 



IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, 



DECEMBER 10, 1859. 




WASHINGTON: 

PRINTED BT LEMUEL TOWERS 
1859. 



SPEECH 



JABEZ L. M. CURRY, OF ALxVCAMA, 



DEUVEEED 



IX THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, DECEMBER 10, 1859. 



Mr. CURRY having obtained the floor, said: 

There are occasions, Mr. Clerk, when a whole people, like 
an individual, hold their breath in suspense, anxiously awaiting 
the issue of events. There are critical periods, which, like night, 
intervene between successive days, and mark the destiny and the 
history of a people. Tlie excitement prevailing in the public mind 
throughout this countrv, the manifestation of interest both here 
and elsewhere, admonish ns that this, perhaps, is such an occa- 
sion. Nor does this excitement and this profound agitation of the 
public mind arise from the simple question of the organization of 
this House; nor from the publication and circulation of an incen- 
diary pamphlet; nor, sir, except in a modified degree, from the 
murderous incursion which was recently made into the Common- 
wealth of Virginia. These are but scenes in the act of a general 
drama, incidents of a principle, the revelations, more or less 
shadowy, of a purpose. The real cause of the agitation in the 
public mind, the radix of the excitement, is the anti-slavery sen- 
ment of the North, — the conviction that property in man is a sin 
and a crime, that the African is the equal of the white man ; that 
he is a citizen of the United States, and that he is entitled to the 
privileges and immunities of other citizens. Throw over it what- 
ever disguises we may, and whatever may be the immediate ac- 
tion superinducing this question, here is the secret of the agitation, 
and here is the cause of our ditferences. This is the general classi- 
fication, in which there are modifications of opinion and grada- 
tions of sentiment; perhaps, on the one extreme, in the maximum, 
is William Lloyd Garrison; and on the other, in the minimum, is 
the distinguished Kepresentative from Ohio, (Mr. Cokwin.) 

In the exercise of that charity which rejoicetli in the truth, I do not 
propose to hold the Kepublican party responsible for the excesses 
which have been committed by all men holding anti-slavery opin- 
ions. I do not propose to charge any personal complicity with 
John Brown, because from the bottom of my heart I do acquit 
them from all connection with that raid which was made into 



•• 



Yirginia. I go further, and say, that I will accept the plea which 
has been interposed by your attorney of record and your spokes- 
man, and will allow the mantle of ignorance to cover your re- 
commendation of an incendiary pamphlet. I propose, if I can, to 
follow the example set me by the gentleman from Ohio, (Mr. 
CoR^\aN,) and so far as I am able with my limited capacity, to rise 
to the height of this great argument and treat it as a philosopher, 
a statesman, and a citizen of a common country. 

The averment I make, Mr. Clerk, is that the ideas, the princi- 
ples, the politics of the Republican party are necessarily and in- 
herently and essentially hostile to the Constitution and to the 
rights and interests of the South. The arguments used assume 
an antagoni^nn between the sections, an irrepressible conflict be- 
tween opposing and enduring forces; and if slavery be what you 
allege it to be in your school-rooms, your pulpits, through your 
public lectures, your political addresses, your leg'slative resolves, 
your congressional speeches, he is the most criminal who stops 
short in his career and hesitates at the exercise of the necessary 
means for its extinguishment. If slavery be a crime against God 
and against humanity, if it be a curse to society, if it contain the 
fruitful seeds of immedicable woes, it is as idle to talk of modera- 
tion and the Constitution and non-interference with the rights of 
the South as it would be to attempt to propel a skiff up the surg- 
ing cataract of Niagara. Inflaming the public mind, cultivating sec- 
tional hostility, impregnating the i)ublic conscience with the germ 
of your doctrines, you array agencies and put in motion elements 
that must have their logical development and result. The Lord 
George Gk>rdon riots of 1780, when London was in the possession 
of an infuriated mob, headed by a madman, and when the pro- 
ceedings of Parliament were almost suspended, when " civil au- 
thority was prostrated" under the influence of the savage cry of 
"no p'opery," are but a iair illustration of the efl:ect of fanaticism 
and folly. The recent incursion thathas been made into the State 
of Virginia, although disavowed and repudiated — as I have no 
doubt it honestly aikl conscientiously is by most, if not all, of the 
gentlemen on the other side of the House— is, in my judgment, 
the necessary, logical, and inevitable sequence of your principles 
and your doctrines. 

I propose now to address myself calmly and inoffensively to this 
House and to the country, and to show the effect and the necessary 
consequence of this anti-slavery agitation and feeling. 

I am conscious of the fact that "there are in the northern States 
two distinct anti-slavery organizations — one represented by Wil- 
liam Lloyd Garrison, Phillips, May, and others ; the other repre- 
sented by the Eepublican party of the Xorth ; and I repeat again, 
that I do not hold the Republican party personally responsible 
either for the doctrines avowed or for the measures advocated by 
the Garrtsoa party. I have a different purpose in the remarks 
that I shall submit to-day ; and that is, to demonstrate, if lam 
able, that those of you who now shrink back from the doctrines 



avowed by tliat party will, either yourselves or tlirongb your suc- 
cessors, be driven totlie assumption of these opinions. In 1835, 
in an address issued by the anti slavery society of Massachusetts, 
participated in by William Lloyd Garrison and others of that type 
of anti-slavery nien, I find recorded these sentiments : 

"We have never advocated the right of physical resisetance on the pant of the 
oppressed. We assure our assailants, that we \youM not sacrifice the life of a single 
slave-holder to emancipate every slave iu tlie tTnited States." 

That is the opinion which was promulgated officially by Wil- 
liam Lloyd Garrison, and those whom my friend from ]^ew York 
(Mr. Clark) affirms are the Abolitionists proper. In 1S59, AVen- 
dell Phillips, a man who deserves the high eulogium, intellectu- 
ally, that was paid to him by the distinguished member from 
Ohio, (Mr. Corwin,) in a speech made in Brooklyn uses this lan- 
guage, speaking of John Brown and his incursion into Virginia: 

"It is the natural result of anti-slavery teaching. For one, I accept it; I ex- 
pected it." 

That is the position into which the Garrisonians have been driv- 
en by this volume of anti-slavery sentiment at the North. In 
1852, the Whis? party of tlie Union, in their Presidential conven- 
tion—and I believe two-thirds of the Republican party belonged 
to that oro;anization— resolved that the compromise measures of 
1850, includini^ the fugitive slave law, were a finality, and were, 
in principle and in substance, the settlement of the slavery ques- 
tion. In six years from that time, you find the great State of 
Ohio, through'^its Eepublican convention, composed of two thirds 
of that same Whig party, resolving that the fugitive slave law 
ought to be repealed, as being destructive of_ the rights of the 
States, and subversive of the moral sense of mankind. What 
more, Mr. Clerk? Those Democrats who have fallen ofl:' from our 
organization into the Republican party were committed to the 
same extent by the Democratic convention of the same year ; and 
yet they have been driven to the enunciation and advocacy of 
extreme doctrines from which, three or four years ago, they would 
have shrunk back with alarm and indignation. 

Why, sir, what do we find? In the State of Massachusetts 
they tiave nullified the fugitive slave law. I have the bill before 
me''in wdiich they have, in the most particular and specific man- 
ner, met the points presented in the fugitive slave bill, and have 
practicallv and efi:ectually nullified that bill which_ was to carry 
out the plain and unadorned letter of the Constitution, This bill 
of the Legislature even goes so far that it appoints commissioners, 
to be feed, paid, compensated by the State of Massachusetts, who 
are to defend the slaves in the courts of Massachusetts, and any 
lawyer who represents the case of the claimant is to be stricken 
from the roll of attorneys and incapacitated from holding any of- 
fice in the State. 

And this has not been done alone in Massachusetts. In Wis- 
consin there is a similar statute repealing or nullifying the fugi- 
tive slave law, and preven.ting its execution, at least so far as the 



whole power of the State can be brought to the accomphshment 
of that purpose. There are provisions of a simiLar tenor in other 
States of the North, There was one in Ohio which the Demo- 
cratic party struck from the statute-book ; and Vermont lias now 
a similar law. I state these things not just now for the purpose 
of condemning them, but to show that the Republican party has 
been borne on by the progress of events and by the fanaticism of 
public opinion to the admission of doctrines from which, but a 
short while since, they would have recoiled with horror. But that 
is not all. 

A Senator from Xew York (Mr. Sewakd) boasted, in a speech 
which he made a year ago, that upon that floor, and in this 
House, there were twenty Republican Senators and a hundred Re- 
publican members, while twenty years ago there M'ere hardly so 
many men in the whole northern States to avow their opinions. 
If I may be allowed to make a personal allusion, in 184:4:1 myself 
stood in Fanueil Hall, and heard a speech of James G. Birney, 
the Liberty party candidate for the Presidency, when there were 
but twent}'' or thirty present to share with him his liberty-loving 
sentimenis ; and some of those who were there, were, like myself, 
attracted b}'^ curiosity to hear a speech upon such a subject from 
a candidate for such a position. It is thus that anti-slaveryism 
has swelled, enlarged, and gro-svn, until at the last presidential 
election a mere political adventurer, unknown to the multitude, 
without political antecedents, received one million four hundred 
thousand votes in the northern States. And yet we are told, the 
distinguished gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Corwin) told us, that we 
need not have any apprehension or feel any special alarm. 

Mr. Clerk, when the gentleman from Tennessee, (Mr. J^elson,) 
the other day, in a speech in which, at one bound, he sprang into 
the front rank of debaters of this House, eulogized the Know 
N^othing party, it was received with tumultuous applause by the 
Republicans; thus publicly testifying their ancient connection 
with the order. The occasion was not omitted in which to mani- 
fest the depth and intensity of their contempt and scorn for for- 
eigners and for Roman Catholics, while they have no special 
repulsion for the black race. Under the constitution and laws of 
Massachusetts, there is no ineligibility to disqualify a negro from 
being Governor of the State. The period within which foreigners 
can vote has been extended two years, while the negro is allowed 
to vote, without any restriction, after he has arrived of age. I 
am also informed that the word " white" has been stricken out of 
the militia bill, and blacks are to stand side by side with the 
whites of that State, in their military parades. 

This fanaticism is becoming uncontrollable. The indications 
are to be found in the underground railroads, and in the efforts 
to rescue negroes in the northern States. You find them in the 
contributions of large amounts of money to circulate incendiary 
pamphlets throughout the South, and in the wide-spread sym- 
pathy for a murderer and a traitor. You find them in the per- 



sonal liberty bills, halcas corjnis bills, and mandamus bills,_and 
in the iinpeuchmeut of judicial officers for executing the fugitive 
slave law. You may think this anti-slavery sentiment a peace- 
ful river, flowing quietly within its embankments, upon which 
you may ride safely into place and ])0wer, but it will rise as a 
Hood and engulf the vessels on its bosom, and sweep away what- 
ever opposes its resistless fury. 

The gentleman from Ohio, (Mr. Cokwin,) in his very adroit 
speech, intended to mollify the hostility of the South towards Ee- 
publicanism, attempted to allay our fears and quiet our appre- 
hensions from the fact that there was no more territory to be 
acted upon at this session of Congress. Did it not occur to the 
very distinguished gentleman to inquire then, wherefore the ne- 
cessity of the Republican organization, which came into existence 
distinctly, avowedly, and solely for the purpose of the .prevention 
of slavery in the Territories? If you do not intend to inflict 
wrong upon the South, or interfere with slavery, and if there_ be 
no question upon which your doctrines can be practically applied, 
dissolve your organization and put it out of your power to do us 
injury. The gentleman, as well as my friend from New York, 
(Mr. fcLARK,) in his remarks to-day, was singularly infelicitous in 
his definition of Abolitionism, and his explanation of the princi- 
ples of the Republican party, preferring, I suppose, that we should 
rather repose in the vagueness of a fallacy than to be tormented 
with the precision of a logical definition. 

Now, Mr. Clerk, I propose to try by the test of fact and of 
logic whether there be any cause for apprehension on the part of 
the South, and whether there be any occasion for anxiety in re- 
ference to the questions which are before the people. At the 
South, with the institution of slavery in our midst, we are not 
accustomed to distinguish very accurately and precisely between 
the different degrees of opposition to us and to our institutions ; 
but I submit* to the House and the country, so far as they may 
honor what I say with audience and perusal, that the measures 
which are presented by the Republican party are of imminent dan- 
ger to the Constitution, and the South, and the country at laro;e. 
What are those measures ? If a convention were again assembled 
for the purpose of forming a Constitution of the United States, 
would New England, or would New York agree to the present 
provision for the delivery of fugitives from labor? Would New 
York, New England, Michigan and other northern States agree 
to the provision in the Constitution to suppress insurrection? 
Would Massachusetts agree to the provision allowing slave re- 
presentation in the Congress of the United States ? 

Without speculating upon what might be done, in a conven- 
tion to frame a Constitution for the United States, I ask you, gen- 
tlemen, and I put it to your hearts and your consciences, whetlier, 
if you had the power, you would not modify or repeal the fugi- 
tive slave law? Would you? If I take the declaration of the 
State of Ohio, in its Republican convention, I am authorized to 



8 

say tliat jou would. If I take tlie declarations of your promi- 
nent men, who hold high official positions as Senators, Represen- 
tatives, and Governors, I am authorized to say that you would — 
that that clause of the Constitution would be practically made 
void, and of no effect, by your legislation, if you had the control 
of this country. I go further still. I ask you, and if necessary I 
will pause for a reply, had you the power, would you not abolish 
slavery in the District of Columbia ? Your great Senator from 
'New Tork (Mr. Sewaed) said that he would ; and he, in time 
past, introduced a bill to secure that object. I ask you, and I 
press the question home upon you, whether, if you were in power, 
you would not use the legislation of this country, and all the 
functions of this Government, to abolish slavery and render slave 
property insecure in the forts, arsenals, dock-yards, and other 
places subject to the jurisdiction of the United States ? Ko neg- 
ative response comes up that I hear. 

Mr. Ejlgore. We would not interfere at all with the present 
relations of slavery in the slave States. 

Mr. CuERY. In the free States no legislation would be neces- 
saiy, but would you not in those States which have been acquired 
since the formation of the Government? I believe a distinction is 
made between the old thirteen States and those formed out of 
territory acquired since the Revolution. I ask gentlemen, and I 
know their sentiments on the subject, for their political platform 
avows them, whether they would not, by act of Congress, abolish 
slavery in the Territories of this country ? If a State were formed 
out of territory north or south of the Missouri line of 36° 30', and 
a slave constitution presented, would gentlemen vote for its ad- 
mission? I know that a colleague of the gentleman from Indiana, 
(Mr. KiLGOEE,) and five or six others, during the last Congress, stated 
that they would not; and Ohio, Vermont, and otl^' States have 
instructed their Senators not to vote for the admission of slave- 
holding States into the Union. I put it to you, and press it upon 
the attention of the country, whether, if by the agencies of this 
Government you were to cripple and confine us within gradually 
narrowing limits, we would not then be reduced to subjection to 
the negro, or forced to fly from the country of ouv residence? 
These are your avowed opinions in the newspapers, in j'our official 
organs, and uttered by Representatives in Congress, and yet I 
am gravely told that w^e are to dismiss our apprehensions, and 
entertain no fear as to the consequences. 

The vitalizing, animating principle of the Republican party is 
hostility to slavery. Extension of slavery into the Territories, a 
gentleman says. I accept the suggestion; but will demonstrate 
before I get through, that it has a nearer application to us than 
that. For the present, I say that the vital animating principle of 
the Republican party is aggressive hostility to the extension of 
slavery into the Territories. That is the ligament which binds 
the heterogeneous compound together. Without it, it would fall to 



pieces of its own weiglit, or be disintegrated from want of cohe- 
rence and harmony. "What does Mr. Skward say? I use hig 
Bame, for he is a representativ^e man, and because his opinions 
have not been disavowed. He says that while we leave slavery 
to the States where it exists— just the sentiments expressed by the 
gentleman from Ohio, (Mr. Sherman,) the other day — we should 
inflexibly direct the policy of this Federal Government so as to 
circumscribe, its limits. For what? To secure its ultimate ex- 
tinction. That is the object. By confining us within this nar- 
rowing circle to secure the abolition of shivery. You will not 
deny that that is the purpose and effect of this agitation. 

Governor Chase, who was a Senator once from Ohio, and who is 
now, I think, the Governor of that State — that Governor Chase, 
between whom and the gentleman from Ohio, (Mr. Cokwin,) there 
seems to have been a sort of fraternal and political concord and 
alliance — in an address which he delivered in Boston, says to his 
anti-slavery friends that "we must see to it that the princij^les of 
freedom are made to animate every function of our national Gov- 
ernment, and every officer connected with its Adniinistixttion. 
Everything is to be made subservient and auxiliary to this prin- 
ciple of negro freedom. The famous English test act, by which 
a man was excluded from civil office unless he partook of the sa- 
crament after the nuinner of the Church of England, is to be re- 
enacted, and api:)lied to the southern States. All who cannot 
pronounce the sJtlhholeth of Republicanism are to be proscribed 
and banished from all influence in our Government and Union. 
Non-slaveowners and Eepublicans are to hold all the offices. 
Postmasters, marshals, district attorneys, mail agents, Federal 
judges, and all other officers, are to be controlled, according to 
Governor Chase, by this principle of freedom. Such an expedient 
would incapacitate southern men. The conscientious and Consti- 
tution-lov^g would be excluded — the unprincipled and the traitor 
would be^^pointed. It would be as effectual as the penal code 
against the Papists of Ireland, and every Federal office would 
be effectuall}^ barred against a slaveholder. The object is to di- 
vide the South into two distinct bodies, without interest, sympa- 
thy, or connection, and another Ireland is to be made on this side 
of the ocean, with new parties of Orangemen and Brunswick- 
men. 

The gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Kellog) stated that the ob- 
ject is to exert all the powers of this Government to prevent the 
extension of slavery; and this Constitution which M'^as intended to 
be our protection and our defence, is to be made the instrument 
of our oppression and the badge of tyi-anny. 

I have very summarily and briefly referred to the opinions of 
the Republican party, the animating principle of that party, the 
sentiments which they avow, and the consequences which must 
inevitably follow from their assumption of the reins of govern- 
ment, if they be true to their principles and their avowals. I re- 



10 

gretted very much to hear the gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. 
I^elson) say that the election of a man hokling such principles to 
the presidenc}^, was not to be resisted by the South. During the 
canvass of 1856, Mr. Fillmore, in a speech which he made at 
Albany, after his return from Europe, used the following lan- 
guage: 

'•But, sir, -what do we see? We see a political party presenting candidates for 
the Presidency and Vice Presidencj-, selected for the tirst time from the free States 
alone, with the avowed purpose of electing these candidates by siiffragesof one part 
of the Union onh', to rule over the whole United States. Can it be possible that 
those who were engaged in such a measure can have seriously reflected upon tho 
consequences which must inevitably follow, in case of success? Can they have the 
madness or the folly to believe that our southern brethren would submit to be gov- 
erned by such a Chief Magistrate? Would he be required to follow the same 
rule prescribed by those who elected him, in making his aj)pointment8? If a man 
living south of Mason and Dixon's line be not worthy to be President or Vice President, 
would it be proper to select one from the same quarter as one of his cabinet council, or 
to represent the nation in a foreign country? Or, indeed, to collect the revenue, 
or administer the laws of the United States? If not, wliat new rule is the President 
to adopt in selecting men for office, that the people themselves discard in selecting 
him ? These are serious, but practical questions, and in order to appreciate them 
fully, it is only necessary to turn the tables xipon ourselves. Suppose that the 
South, having a majority of the electoral votes, should declare that they would only 
have slaveholders for President and Vice President, and should elect such by their 
exclusive suffrages to rule over us at the North. Do you think we would submit to 
it ? No, not for a moment. And do you believe that your southern brethren are 
less sensitive on this subject than you are, or less jealous of their rights? If you 
do, let me tell you that you are mistaken. And, therefore, you must see that if this 
sectional party succeeds, it leads inevitably to the destruction of this beautiful fabrio 
reared by our forefathers, cemented by their blood, and bequeathed to us as a price- 
less inheritance." 

Such is the language of Mr. Fillmore, who had been President 
of the United States, and who was at that time a candidate for 
reelection. Now, sir, however distasteful it may be to my friend 
from New York, (Mr. Clark,) however much it may revolt the 
public sentiment or conscience of this country, I am not ashamed 
or afraid publicly to avow that the election of Willian H. Se- 
ward, or Salmon P. Chase, or any such representativjppf the Pe- 
publican party, upon a sectional platform, ought to be resisted to 
the disruption of every tie that binds this Confederacy together.* 

The " extreme medicine of the Constitution is not to be made 
our daily food," and threats of dissolution have become impo- 
tent on account of their frecpiency. But the election of such a 
man, with such sentiments, would indicate such hostility to us as 
to be the assurance of our subjection, and the evidence of an ir- 

* In a very recent northern book, written with some ability, and exhibiting no 
partiality for the South, which has just fallen into my hands, occurs this sentence: 

" It is a fact to be confronted and dealt with, that there is a body of men, in the 
northern States, formidable for its numbers, wealth, social influence, political power-, 
talents, and zeal, willing to diffuse among the negroes ideas and aspirations incon- 
sistent with their position as slaves; willing to afl'ord them encouragement and 
eyrapathj', and the expectation of support, if not actual physical aid, in resistance 
and revolt. >These men are able, if they cannot be checked, to destroy the South — to 
destroy the Nation," 



11 

reconcilable antagonism. It would be a great calamity, and to 
submit to it would be a calamity embittered by disgrace. 

"Come the eleventh plague, rather than this should be ; 
Come, sink us rather in the sea; 
Come rather pestilence and mow us down ; 
Come God's sword, rather than our own ; 
Let rather Roman come again ; 
The Saxon, Norman, or the Dane ; 
In all the ills we've ever bore, 
"We grieved, we sighed, we wept, we never i/ws/if J before." 

But we are told there are demonstrations at present going on in 
the Xorth in opposition to this I\,epul)lican party, and I find in 
these meetings additional arguments to prove the positions which 
Ij^have been" submitting. Edward Everett, the author and the 
statesman, in his recent speech at the Union meeting in Boston, 
assigns as a reason for his abstinence from political action — 

"That, between the extremes of opinion that have long distracted and now 
threaten to convulse the country, I find no middle ground of practical usefulness on 
•which a friend of moderate counsels can stand." 

^yhatever may be his means of judging the Sor h, he is surely 
a competent and impartial judge of northern sent; iient. In the. 
same meeting, Caleb Gushing, late Attorney Ge bral, speaking 
of a recent etfort of his, says : 

•' I endeavored to show how a handful of talented but miu fed men in Massa- 
chusetts, animated by a monomania of lanatieal devotion t< i single idea, had 
poisoned tlie consciences and corrupted the judgment of too rr -f our fellow-citi- 

zens in the Commonwealth. I showed the nature and influen^ leir most malign 

teachings ; how all party action in the North riud South was running in the chan- 
nel of a desperate and deplorable sectionalism, and, more than all, in ^Massachusetts; 
that all political influence in this State was founded in hate, treacherous, furious, 
fiendish hate, of our fellow-citizens in the southern States." 

This was spoken by a Massachusetts man in Faneuil Hall, and 
indorsed by a Massachusetts audience. 

These Union meetings that have been held in the Xorth, are 
referred to as evidence of a returning sense of public justice. 
Now, Mr. Clerk, while they may be demonstrations of a more or 
less gratifying character, yet these public declarations commit to 
nothing. They are not the true index of public opinion. The 
test of public opinion is the ballot box. There is where I look to 
ascertain the political sentiment of the North, and I find, decid- 
ing by that test, that New England stands here to-day in one solid 
phalanx arra3"ed against what I conceive to be the constitutional 
rights of the South — that New York stands here with but five or 
six Representatives who are disposed to befriend us and our rights. 
The same is true, to a greater or less extent, in regard to Tenn- 
sylvania and Ohio, and other States of the Union. The same is 
true in regard to their State organizations. The elections are 
the evidence of popular hostility, and I choose to l|f)k to them 
rather than to exceptional results and individual expressions. We 
also hear patriotic declamation and eloquent vindication of the 
Union on this floor. Sir, they are the singing of Circe — "the 
voice of the charmer, charming never so wisely," lulling the 



12 

South's suspicion asleep, and deceiving tlie North in regard to the 
stupendousness of the crisis that is on us. If you are in earnest 
in these declarations, if these public meetings mean anything, 
show us the fruit of your work; give us something practical, sub- 
stantial, and tangible. Will you go home and repeal your per- 
sonal liberty bills, your habeas corpus acts, your mandainus acts? 
Will you execute the fugitive slave law ? Will you open your 
State prisons for the safe-keeping of those who are arrested in 
compliance with the Constitution? Will you refuse contributions 
of money to circulate incendiary pamphlets at the South? Will 
you turn out of tli'is Hall and the other end of the Capitol the 
men who come here to insult and stigmatize us, and who omit 
no possible occasion of keeping up sectional hostility and infring- 
ing on our rights and on the guaranties of the Constitution ? Will 
you go home and say, as Charles James Fox, on a memorable 
occasion, "I stand up for the Constitution, not for the people ;_ if 
the people att» npt to invade the Constitution, they are enemies 
to the nation? These will be some indications of public opinion 
and some tests of a returning sense of public justice, 

Mr. Clerk, ^ hould be doing injustice to myself and to the con- 
stituents whoi ' represent were 1 to deny that there exists a se- 
rious apprehe.' -n in their minds in regard to the consequences 
of this agitati There are men at the South who, while they 

wish that the ..o/ernment may continue as prosperous and happy 
as it has hitherto been, still recognize and acknowledge the fact 
that clouds and darkness are gathering over the future which only 
the eye of the seer may be able to penetrate. It is natural for 
them' in that condition to be casting about to ascertain where are 
their friends, and from whom they will get support and succor in 
the hour of trial and difficulty. 

My constituents, almost without distinction of party, look solely 
and exclusively to the Democracy of the North as the natural 
allies of the Constitution and the' South. That party has doiie 
much to illustrate the principles of this Government, and to vin- 
dicate man's capacity for self-government. Kelying on the in- 
tegrity and intelligence of the' people, defeat has not caused its 
disbandment, the desertion of its principles, or the change of its 
name. That there have been occasional excesses and irregulari- 
ties and departures, I will admit. That bad men have sometimes 
used its ■presticje for ill, and abused its confidence, I do not deny. 
That in the pride of victory and the consciousness of power it has 
been sometimes intolerant of rebuke and opposition, its more can- 
did supporters must concede. But still it has been fruitful of 
great names and great deeds. In war it has been been the coun- 
try's friend. In peace it has contributed largely to its prosperity. 
It's disbandment, particularly at this juncture, would be, in my 
judgment, a serious calamity. While other organizations have 
arisen and departed, it still Kves in the hearts of the people. Il- 
lustrated by great names, in critical periods of our country's his- 
tory, it has been the saviour of the Constitution and the defender 



13 

of our conntiy's honor. Its principles have become jiart of onr 
mental habitudes, and I trust it may be adequate to the stupcn- 
duous conliict which is just ahead of us. I take pleasure in re- 
cognizing the true and loyal men on this side of the lloor and in 
the North, who are willing with us to lock shields in defence of 
the Constitution and the Union which is its creature ; and I hope 
that in the irrepressible conflict which may be here or elsewhere, 
they may be able to rescue the Constitution of our country from 
the polluting touch of those who M'ould destroy it. 

But, Mr. Clerk, it is not proper that I should disguise the fact, 
that there are serious apprehensions that that party may not, in 
consecpieuce of the inteiisity and fierceness of the anti-slavery 
sentiment of tdie North, be able to preserve the Constitution of 
the country. In that event, where is our hope of redress ? where 
is our security ? The very existence of two governments here, 
the Federal and State, implies a division of political power. 
And these two governments have their origin and sanction in 
the same source. The Federal no less than the State govern- 
ment is the work of the people of the States. It is a mere agent 
intrusted with limited powers for the execution of certain spe- 
cific objects. Its powers are derivative entirely, and liable to 
be resumed by the States which delegated them. The Federal 
Constitution is the measure of its authority, and contains all the 
delegation of powers from the people of the dilferent States. It 
is a pernicious error, to be repudiated on all occasions, that this 
Government can laM'fully do whatever is not prohibited in the 
Constitution. AYhatever is not delegated to the Government or 
prohibited to the States, is reserved to the States respectively and 
separately, and to the people thereof; and as one of our pro- 
foundest political thinkers has said : 

"The bouiifiary between the reserved and delegated powers marks the limits of 
this Union ; the iStates are united to the extent of the delegated, they are separated 
bej'ond that limit." 

The history of this country confirms universal exf)erience in 
reference to the disposition of men having power to arrogate 
more. The apprehensions of some of the founders of the Repub- 
lic in reference to the dangers which throated its perpetuity, were 
ill-founded ; the centripetal tendencies have been found to be 
greater than the centrifugal. Abraham Baldwin, of Georgia, 
during the last century, remarked that "it w^as the nature of 
delegated power to increase. It has been aptly said to be like 
the screw in mechanics : it holds all it gains, and at every turn 
gains a little more." This tendency has been fully and repeated- 
ly manifested in our history; and sometimes the States have 
failed to resist and defeat measures leading to centralism and the 
absorption of unconstitutional powers by the dilferent depart- 
ments of the Federal agency. 

I said that t?lie existence of two governments implied a division 
of power. This division of power implies a superior. The exist- 
ence of limitations and restrictions presupposes the power to con- 



14 

trol and to enforce. Kight here arises the great question — the 
greatest which can possibly be submitted to the people of this 
Confederacy — -whether the States have the right to judge of the 
extent of their reserved powei'S and to defend them against the 
encroachments of the Federal Government. Mr. Webster, and 
the Federal school of politicians, hold that in all cases not capa- 
ble of assuming the character of a suit in law or equity, in which 
event the Supreme Court is the final interpreter. Congress is the 
final and exclusive judge of the extent of its own powers. Mr. 
Jefferson and Mr. Calhoun and the State-rights school on the con- 
trary hold that the Constitution is a compact between sovereign 
States ; that the States are not united upon a principle of unlim- 
ited submission to this Government ; that this Government, the 
creature of the States, is not the final and exclusive judge of the 
powers delegated to itself; but that each State has an equal right 
to judge for itself, as well of the infraction of the Constitution as 
of the mode and measure of redress. The Federal doctrine of Mr. 
Webster centralizes power, consolidates the Government, reduces 
the States to mere dependent corporations, and destroys limita- 
tions and restrictions. A written constitution affords no barrier 
against the encroachments of the Government, and no security for 
the rights and liberties of the people, if the Government can con- 
strue the final extent of its own powers and enforce that construc- 
tion at the point of the bayonet. " Written constitutions," said 
an old author, " are like spiders' webs that hold only the poor and 
weak, while the rich and powerful easily break through them." 
Under this theor}^, there is no practical, substantive division of 
power. If the Government, through any or all its departments, 
can, by construction or usurpation, enlarge its delegation, there 
are no limitations upon its powers, there being no difference, said 
Mr. Calhoun, " between a Government having all power and a 
Government having the right to take what powers it pleases." 

Mr. Clerk, free governments, so far as their protecting power 
is concerned, are made for minorities, and the Jeffersonian, State- 
rights theory protects minorities. The South is in a minority at 
this time ; and she should cling to State-rights as the sheet-anchor 
of her safety in her hour of peril. As power is liable to abuse, 
checks should be imposed. In all possible modes of government, 
there will be a conflict between sections and interests and classes. 
It is inevitable under the present constitution of human nature. 
All history furnishes no experience to the contrary. Ilostile in- 
terests are created by legislation. Different interests in a com- 
munity are disposed to encroach on each other; and unless there 
is some power to check and restrain, the weaker must yield to, 
and go down before, the strongei*. If majorities can interpret the 
Constitution, and enforce that interpretation without check; if 
tlie legislative discretion of the other side of the House is the 
measure of the rights of the South, then the minority will soon 
become a prey to the ambition and cupidity of the majority. 



15 

Gouvernenr Morris, in writing to Mr. Pickering — and lie is an- 
thoritj I presume on the other side of the House — said that " the 
legishitive lion is not to be entangled in the meshes of a logical 
net — that the legislature will always nuihe the power it wishes to 
exercise." Limitations of power contained in the Constitution, 
and reservations of undelegated })Ower, are of no avail unless 
thej, for whose benefit they are imposed and reserved, have the 
power to enforce the limitations and protect the reservations 
against encroachment. It is idle to expect the delegated powers 
to protect the reserved ; it is nonsense to give a right without a 
remedy, or a remedy without the means of applying it. It is 
folly to talk of the minority relying for the protection of their 
rights upon the privilege of protest, complaint, and remonstrance. 

No, every separate community must be able to protect itself. 
Power must be met by power. If the majority can control this 
Government, interpreting the Constitution at its will, then this 
Government is a despotism. Whether wise or unwise, whether 
merciful or cruel, it is a despotism still. 

Mr. Clerk, this power of self-protection, according to my judg- 
ment and my theory of politics, resides in each State. Eacli has 
the right of secession, the right of inter])osition, for the arrest of 
evils within its limits. The means of resistance to oppression are 
ample; and it is a sad misfortune, sir, that these effective reme- 
dies have not been oftener applied. A more frequent application 
of the remedy would make the will commensurate with the means, 
inspire moral greatness, embolden courage, make resistance a 
duty, and equality a necessity. 

Mr. Clerk, if our Democratic friends, with the aid of American 
friends, or of Republicans, who may come to the rescue, as I trust 
many of them will, be not able to interpose for the security of the 
South, and for the preservation of the Constitution, I, for one, 
shall counsel immediate and effective resistance, and shall urge 
the people of Alabama, to which State I owe my first and un- 
divided allegiance, to fling themselves upon their ultimate 
defence — their reserved rights and inalienable sovereignty. 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



011 898 242 3 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



011 898 242 3 



